Making a strong pitch for Indian investments in Belgium, visiting Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said that his country has fought red tape and liberalized tax and labor laws and is becoming a “magnet” for investments making India is the 3rd largest investor.

Making a strong pitch for Indian investments in Belgium, visiting Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said that his country has fought red tape and liberalized tax and labor laws and is becoming a “magnet” for investments making India is the 3rd largest investor.

Talking at the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), Verhofstadt said that the “world’s up and coming political and economic power” India should capitalize on the “ideal gateway” Belgium ’s “lowest effective tax rate on investment.” He highlighted the Notional Tax Deduction feature of the Belgian economy that benefits capital-intensive companies and said that the historic social security agreement with India will benefit Indians working there.

With €1 billion last year, India ranked 3rd in investment into Belgium after the United States and United Kingdom and this trend is expected to go up. Belgium had made it easy for investments by “cutting red tape” bringing down the number of days to start a business from 56 in 2003 to 3 in 2006. Besides, Belgium has also made it easier for immigration of knowledge workers.

Coinciding with this visit, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IMEC, Europe 's leading independent research center in micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology, enabling design methods, and technologies for ICT systems signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner in research for joint research on various nanoelectronics process steps. IMEC also signed a MoU with SemIndia, which is planning to build a semiconductor foundry in Hyderabad , to create next generation semiconductor process technologies.

IMEC partners with 500 other entities worldwide and earns €230 million yearly